Qantas flight forced to turn back due to engine problem

[Maikha Ly]

Irrespective of what the media reports about Qantas, and the stupid people I'm surrounded by who believe in that tripe...



.... I'm still flying with Qantas

[Paul McFarlane]

Originally Posted by Maikha Ly

...the stupid people I'm surrounded by who believe in that tripe...

Whilst I cannot comment on the stupidity of those around you, generally the people that believe these stories are not stupid, they just don't know any better. Having had no experience in aviation (other than getting from A to B and ordering the fish) these people take what they see in the papers and on the telly at face value and don't comprehend the safety culture that exists in aviation.

[Ryan K.]

didn't expect this thread turned into an aviation safety discussion.

All I wanna comment on was the reliability on their aircrafts. If I am an ordinary person wanting to travel to Europe or US, would I still choose an airline that has a string of incidents recently or my other alternatives. Qantas is already getting hard done by their competitors and these kind of news would just be the last thing they want.

What really spark me in starting this thread was the loading just over 50% on the 380 when the tyre burst in SYD. This is surely not a good sign for an airline for inbound traffic just before the Easter holiday season.

[Paul McFarlane]

Originally Posted by Ryan K.

All I wanna comment on was the reliability on their aircrafts. If I am an ordinary person wanting to travel to Europe or US, would I still choose an airline that has a string of incidents recently or my other alternatives.

This is the problem with the media reporting every time Qantas drops a salad fork on the floor; the everyday client believes that Qantas is having a 'string of incidents' when in fact they have had maybe two significant events of late that were genuinely newsworthy and the rest are relatively normal tech issues that the 'alternatives' also face day to day (just without the publicity)!

I don't believe that Qantas has any serious reliability problems in their fleet, (my opinion only..) but the media can certainly make it look that way..

Cheers

[Jason H]

I heard that the replacement aircraft, VH-OJN, blew 5 tires on landing in BKK. Can anyone confirm this?

[James K]

Originally Posted by Ryan K.

didn't expect this thread turned into an aviation safety discussion.

All I wanna comment on was the reliability on their aircrafts. If I am an ordinary person wanting to travel to Europe or US, would I still choose an airline that has a string of incidents recently or my other alternatives. Qantas is already getting hard done by their competitors and these kind of news would just be the last thing they want.

What really spark me in starting this thread was the loading just over 50% on the 380 when the tyre burst in SYD. This is surely not a good sign for an airline for inbound traffic just before the Easter holiday season.

Each flight cannot be full 100% of the time. You need to look at the wider picture. These are seasonal loads and the northbound loads at the moment are more than healthy.

[Andrew M]

But all this publicity gets people talking and questioning Qantas....

Being the aviation expert amongst family/friends

I have lost track of how many people have asked me something along the lines of

"What is happening with Qantas at the moment?"
"Did you hear about the incident with Qantas?"

I shut them down but they still can't believe that Qantas is "having all these problems"

[Maikha Ly]

Originally Posted by Paul McFarlane

Whilst I cannot comment on the stupidity of those around you, generally the people that believe these stories are not stupid, they just don't know any better. Having had no experience in aviation (other than getting from A to B and ordering the fish) these people take what they see in the papers and on the telly at face value and don't comprehend the safety culture that exists in aviation.

Paul, you make many valid points and I do agree with you.

Sadly, on a social, academic and professional level, I'm surrounded by insipid Generation Y-ers who take the media for gospel more so than face value (And considering I work in the field of Media and Broadcasting... this does surprise me), and one individual who recently told me she decided on booking a holiday with VB now because of, quote, "what I saw about the Qantas fire with the A380 last week" (Relating to the tyre blow-out incident).

The rest of people I know, like Andrew M has stated above, hear about all these string of incidents and make judgments on Qantas to the same level as they do towards Tiger Airways depicted on that Ch7 program, without questioning the facets or idiosyncrasies of the media that's doing the portraying. I don't expect anyone to have any inclination to understand or appreciate the safety standards in aviation, or any other form of transport for the matter, just to think for themselves and not let the paper/telly do it for them.

My judgments on them have nothing to do with my interests and appreciation for aviation. Moreso the observations I've made, the objections I have towards elements of my own generation, and the cynicisms I have personally at the way the media conducts itself.

[Maikha Ly]

Also.....

I've been trying to find this for a while, and had it sent to me tonight. Write your own 'Terrifying Flight' news item!
http://radans.net/jens/planestory.html

[Robert Zweck]

Once you have waded through all the rubbish and tripe, you find Qantas is still the world's safest airline.